The present invention relates to a coated polymeric fabric.
Polymers are used extensively to make a variety of products which include blown and cast films, extruded sheets, injection molded articles, foams, blow molded articles, extruded pipe, monofilaments, and nonwoven webs. Some of such polymers, such as polyolefins, are naturally hydrophobic, and for many uses this property is either a positive attribute or at least not a disadvantage.
There are a number of uses for polymers, however, where their hydrophobic nature either limits their usefulness or requires some effort to modify the surface characteristics of the shaped articles made therefrom. By way of example, polyolefins, such as polyethylene and polypropylene, are used to manufacture polymeric fabrics which are employed in the construction of such disposable absorbent articles as diapers, feminine care products, incontinence products, training pants, wipes, and the like. Such polymeric fabrics often are nonwoven webs prepared by, for example, such processes as meltblowing, coforming, and spunbonding; they have a pronounced tendency to adsorb protein. When these fabrics are employed in the construction of such disposable absorbent articles as diapers, feminine care products, incontinence products, training pants, wipes, and the like, the tendency to adsorb protein often is deemed to be a disadvantage. This is particularly true in the case of feminine care and other products which come in contact with blood and other colored-protein-containing fluids. The adsorption of colored proteins by a component of the product contributes to disapproval of the product for aesthetic reasons, even though the product may have superior performance in its intended function of fluid absorption and redistribution. More importantly, however, the adsorption of protein often reduces or prevents fluid absorption.
In the past, resistance to the adsorption of protein by a polymeric (or other) material has been accomplished by, for example, the radio frequency glow discharge plasma deposition of tetraethylene glycol dimethyl ether onto a polymeric material; coating of a polymeric material with polyethylene oxide-containing block copolymer surfactants or a polyethoxylated alkylphenol or long-chain aliphatic alcohol, with or without an argon radio frequency glow discharge treatment after the polymeric material has been coated; immobilization of baboon albumin on radio frequency glow discharge-treated surfaces; radio frequency glow discharge polymerization of monomers on the surface of a material; a coating of a crosslinked polypropylene glycol/polyglycidoxy propyl methyl siloxane network which contains polyethylene glycol monomethyl ether chains; use of interpenetrating polymer networks of poly(ethylene oxide) and a polyether substituted polysiloxane; use of poly(dimethylsiloxane)-poly(ethylene oxide)-heparin CBABC type block copolymers; and use of immobilized poly(ethylene glycol) films.
Notwithstanding the advances which have been made in providing surfaces which are resistant to the adsorption of protein by a polymeric material, there still is a need for further improvement.